Rahm summed up the mode of governance early: crisis management, with benefits.
This has been recognized as a characteristic of liberal thought patterns since at least 1947, when Michael Oakeshott wrote "Rationalism In Politics."
He believes, of course, in the open mind, the mind free from prejudice and its relic, habit. He believes that the unhindered human 'reason' (if only it can be brought to bear) is an infallible gUide in political activity. Further. he believes in argument as the technique and operation of 'reason'; the truth of an opinion and the 'rational' ground (not the use) of an institUtion is all that matters to him. Consequently, much of his political activity consists in bringing the social, political, legal and institutional inheritance of his society before the tribunal of his intellect; and the rest is rational administration, 'reason' exercising an uncontrolled jurisdiction over the circumstances of the case. To the Rationalist, nothing is of value merely because it exists (and certainly not because it has eXisted for many generations), familiarity has no worth, and nothing's to be left standing for want of scrutiny. ... This is aptly illustrated by the rationalist attitude towards a tradition of ideas. There is, of course, no question either of retaining or improving such a tradition. for both these involve an attitude of submission. It must be destroyed. And to fill its place the Rationalist puts some. A faithful account of the politics of rationalism (with all Its confusions and ambivalences) thing of his own making---an ideology, the formalized abridgment of the supposed substratum of rational truth contained in the tradition. ... He waits upon circumstance to provide him with his problems, but rejects its aid in their solution. ... Thus, political life is resolved into a succession of crises, each to be surmounted by the application of 'reason'. Each generation, indeed. each administration, should see unrolled before it the blank sheet of infinite possibility. And if by chance this tabula rasa has been defaced by the irrational scribblings of tradition-ridden ancestors, then the first task of the Rationalist must be to scrub it clean; as Voltaire remarked, the only way to have good laws is to bum all existing laws and to start afresh.
See pages 8 and 9 of this: http://psychology.byuh.edu/faculty/troysmith/BYUH/Classes/Philosophy/Oakeshott%20-%20Rationalism%20as%20Politics.pdf
-- Edited by winchester on Thursday 30th of May 2013 03:06:43 PM
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It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.” – Mark Twain
The observation in the first quote leads to the conclusion drawn in the second.
Community organizers' main efforts are to stir up public sentiment to achieve special goals without implementing any solutions. Solutions are the province of someone else. The present administration has used this tactic endlessly, most noticeably with the White House tour shutdown during spring break and now flight-controller furloughs. This is definitely not an effort to solve problems but rather an attempt to stampede citizens to a desired result. We don't need a community organizer in the White House. We need an executive, but of course Mr. Obama abhors that category of human endeavor. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324482504578452882242125290.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_MIDDLETopOpinion
It’s crystal clear that foreign leaders think that the U.S. president is a paper tiger. Enemies calculate that the former senator leading a team of former senators is heavy on rhetoric but light on action. And friends, too, understand that at best Obama is a nice prop around which to take a photo, but when push comes to shove they need not listen to him. http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2013/05/01/turkey-augments-iran-trade/
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It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.” – Mark Twain
